Don’t get ready, get started. Why Innovating Is About Doing, Not Talking

[cdmedia]

Nice little fastlane article I came across today on linkedin. Thought I'd share it:

Imagine that it’s 1901—and since both the PlayStation and crossword puzzles have yet to be invented, you’re whiling away your rainy Saturday morning with a quiet game of Parcheesi. I ask you, which of the following makes you want to put down the dice and go do something more interesting with your life?:"Let's grab some coffee after lunch and talk about innovation."
or
"I had a dream about how to make us fly—could you help me hack together a prototype for a couple of hours this afternoon?"
It's the second one, right? It has to be. Innovating—doing it, trying to make something happen—is ever so much more interesting than merely talking about innovation. Verbs are greater than nouns.
Now, I’m a big believer in knowing your theory and being fluent in all the flavors of innovation; the seminal works of Clay Christensen and Peter Drucker have had a big impact on my identity and approach as an innovator. But at the end of the day we're all here to make a dent in the universe, right? That means doing stuff. And as with surfing or playing the piano or learning to hack Arduino, no amount of reading or talking about it will make you better. To become a better innovator, it's all about experiencing as many cycles of doing as you can.
When faced with questions of schedule, my d.school colleague Perry Klebahn—who has shipped more products than just about anyone I know—always says “don’t get ready, get started.†He’s telling us not only to think a lot less before we act, but to use what we learn through action to help us think. Build to think. If the rapid ascendance and spectacular triumphs of Silicon Valley firms show us anything, it's that doing trumps planning more often than not. It’s far better to ship now and learn sooner than to study for a while and ship...much later.
In doing, there is knowing. Doing is the resolution of knowing. We learn via our mistakes, and we can make many more valuable mistakes when we take action. Innovating is about doing, not talking.
What are you doing today to get started?

Why Innovating Is About Doing, Not Talking | LinkedIn

 

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